Friday, 17 May, 2024
By: Yash Gupte
At 162, Mumbai recorded the second highest cases of murder in India followed by Chennai with 161 murder cases. The highest number of murder cases were recorded in Delhi (454). Image Source: IANS
The Lalbaug murder highlights the rising number of murder cases in metropolitan cities across India. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), a total of 29,272 cases of murder were registered in the country during 2021
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The Mumbai Police arrested a 24-year-old woman on Wednesday, March 15, 2023 for allegedly killing her mother and chopping her body into pieces at their house in Lalbaug. According to the authorities, Rimple Jain, the daughter, lived at the house for more than two months with her mother's remains before the tragedy was discovered on Tuesday. The dead was identified as Veena Prakash Jain (55). According to Mumbai Police, She used to reside in Virar, a suburb of Mumbai with her husband and daughter Rimple. She moved to Ibrahim Kasar Chawl in Lalbaug after her spouse died 16 years ago. Jain had five sisters and two brothers.
According to the authorities, she purchased a marble-cutter to dismember the body and kept the limbs in two water barrels in the kitchen and the torso in a cabinet. Although the reason is still unclear, several locals claim that the mother and daughter used to fight frequently. Rimple Jain was detained when her uncle and cousin reported her mother missing to the police and she continued to obstruct them, deny them entry to the house, and fill it with a foul odour. Her severely decomposed body parts were found in the house by the police.
Police officials investigating the Lalbaug murder revealed that Rimple Jain had been watching Crime Patrol on TV frequently and the crime show became an inspiration for the 24 year-old woman to chop her mother’s dead body into pieces.
The thriving 100-year-old chawl, which is situated on the major road and is home to numerous families, according to police officials, is a hive of activity. As a result, there are always people present in and around the chawl till 2 am and the tea stall outside the chawl opens up for business at 4 am. According to a police officer from the Kalachowki police station, Rimple was unable to locate a convenient moment to dispose of the corpse because she was afraid of being seen and apprehended.
Police have so far recorded statements of six people, including vendors, salesmen and staff of the hotel which is on the ground floor of Ibrahim Kasam building in Lalbaug in which the Jains lived. According to their statements, Veena died on December 27, a day after she was reported to have fallen from their building's first floor while using the common washroom, according to authorities. Two hotel employees who live in the same building assisted in carrying her home. According to police, Rimple purchased phenyl, air fresheners, and the marble cutter seized from their home on the same day (December 27, 2022).
The Lalbaug murder highlights the rising number of murder cases in metropolitan cities across India. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), a total of 29,272 cases of murder were registered in the country during 2021, showing a marginal increase of 0.3 percent over 2020 (29,193 cases). In 2021, the conviction rate in murder cases was only 42 percent. There was a decline of around 2 percent in conviction rate as compared to 2020 (44 percent).
*Metropolitan Cities- Cities with more than 2 million population (based on 2011 census)
The total number of murder cases registered in metropolitan cities in 2021 was 1,955 compared to 1,849 cases in 2020. At 454, Delhi reported the highest number of murder cases in 2021, followed by Mumbai (162) and Chennai with 161 murder cases. Among the four major metropolitan cities (Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata), Kolkata reported relatively less number of murder cases compared to other three cities. Kolkata reported 45 cases of murder in 2021. The number was lowest in last five years. While Kolkata reported the lowest number of murder cases in last five years, Ahmedabad recorded maximum cases (97) in 2021 in last five years.
Speaking of motive for murders, 23 such cases in the National Capital Region were reported due to love affairs, the highest in the country, followed by Patna with 21 such cases. The maximum victims (869) in murder cases in metropolitan cities were from the age group of 18-30 years followed by the age group of 30-45 years. The total number of people murdered in this age group in metropolitan cities was 725. Maximum number (16) of senior citizens (60 years and above) were murdered in Delhi and Ahmedabad in 2021.
The low conviction rate (42.4 percent) in murder cases shows that in more than half of the cases, the accused are not convicted due to reasons like lack of evidence. This results in failure of delivery of justice. The 1,955 cases of murder reported in the metropolitan cities are just the tip of the iceberg as number of unreported crimes remain high.
